First Landing on Sanguine Island (Saun gien (French pronunciation))

First Message Sent to The City of Anunitum by Captain Kolcei

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Message sent via storage chip and drone messenger, Talitha Age 75, 5th day of Dódeka

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    Fellow Talithans, we have landed.    I am happy to report that the trip to our first destination has been a success. The water was calm, and we even saw an enormous unknown sea creature along the way.   We landed early this morning. The crew were the first to step foot on the island. I will let them share that honor since you have already gifted me that of the first sailing Captain of Talitha Harbor. For this landing I let our youngest, Sailor Franz Sutor take the first steps.   The island has a wide beach on the east side where we made anchor. The land on that side drops off abruptly, so we could sail within a few meters of it without risking hull damage. Some sailors decided to simply jump off the side of the ship and swim aboard. A move that our young Franz also performed.    We walked the perimeter of the island first. The entire thing is flat. As we walked north, the beach narrowed. The most northwestern portion of it is rocky, though still mostly level. We had one of the old drones with us that could perform soundings in the water and along the edge of the land. I’m sure the geologists will have a more accurate finding, but my initial thought is that this island was a part of one of the larger great islands and something happened so it broke apart. If I’m right, it may be slowly drifting. Though, the distance that we traveled matched the initial planet survey. It hasn’t drifted as far as I can tell in the few sol cycles we’ve been here.   Of course, it’s completely possible that I am wrong. I do like the idea of a floating island.    The best find along the perimeter was an expansive coral reef on the western coast, facing away from the place we’ve made home. I’ve seen pictures of the coral reefs that used to exist on Earth, before they wiped them out, and they don’t compare to the reef here. I’ve never seen so many colors together. It expands along a good two-thirds of that edge, I would say a little over three kilometers. I don’t know how far off of the coast or deep it goes, but I’m sure our Ecologists won’t waste their time in exploring it.    While we were watching the colorful looking fish, we saw a school of tiny little creatures that looked like images of jellyfish. They had little pale pink round bodies and long thin tentacles. They looked fragile, but were fascinating to watch, though they just floated.    Once we walked around the exterior, which was calculated at 12.87 kilometers, we cautiously walked inland. We didn’t know what sort of wildlife lived there and were hoping not to come across any angry insects. We saw plenty of little creatures both flying and scurrying around. Many of them looked similar to what we have on Anunitum, but I saw some that I didn’t recognize.    There is a creature here, large brown and noisy, that seems to live on the trees. When we drew close to it, it would start making a lot of noise.However, it never left its spot. Commander Ira carefully poked one with a long branch she found lying around and it didn’t move, just made a cloud clicking noise. We guess it does this with its wings.   The vegetation beyond the beaches is very dense. The little ecosystem here seems to be well. Everything is vibrant. There was a good amount of green, but the island also had its share of colorful plants, both in the form of flowers and leaves. We found one bush that had blue veins in its green leaves. We also found a fern that was bright orange with yellow stripes running through it. I didn’t recognize either of these plants from Anunitum.   It is sunset here. We are going to sleep on the beach tonight, since the weather is nice, though we will have a few lookouts. We are going to use a few strategically placed fires to hopefully ward off anything that bites. Don’t fear, though, we are keeping them far enough away from the woods that we won’t burn the place down.    Right before I started writing this report, we voted on a name for the island. I tried to get the crew to vote on Ira Island, but I was voted down and given some sharp looks by my Commander. Sailor Sutor suggested Sanguine Island, but with the Earth-French pronunciation. They met this idea with a lot more enthusiasm. We don’t plan on trying to name everything we discover, of course, but we would request this one piece of land if you’ll grant it.   With that, I must say my farewell. We will stay here for a few more hours tomorrow, and then we will sail west, looking for the large continent beyond this little chunk of Talitha.    Your Grateful Captain Edgar Kolcei